I was born a very shy person. I always felt the need to protect myself and to layer myself from the world at large. The part of that Debbie that I find interesting is that I was really moving on instinct and instinct was telling me that the things that are embedded into me were my superpowers. But I didn't have the language to recognize that until much, much later. When I had established myself enough that it didn't knock me backwards or throw me off my game, it simply allowed me to look at the earlier work and not disregard it so easily. And wow, thank you Greta Thunberg for allowing me to see myself a little more clearly. We become who we
Michael Stipe joins to talk about his remarkable life, photography practice, and career as the lead singer and lyricist for the band R.E.M.